Dutch husband and wife and third unidentified person reported to have died, with three further people taken illA suspected outbreak of the rare hantavirus infection on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean killed three people – including an elderly married couple – and sickened at least three others, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and South Africa’s health department said on Sunday.The WHO said an investigation was under way but that at least one case of hantavirus had been confirmed. One of
Dutch husband and wife and third unidentified person reported to have died, with three further people taken ill
A suspected outbreak of the rare hantavirus infection on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean killed three people – including an elderly married couple – and sickened at least three others, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and South Africa’s health department said on Sunday.
The WHO said an investigation was under way but that at least one case of hantavirus had been confirmed. One of the patients was in intensive care in a South African hospital, the UN’s health agency said in a statement to the Associated Press, and the WHO was working with authorities to evacuate two others with symptoms from the ship.
Israeli court extends detention of two men who were among 175 people intercepted near Crete on ThursdaySpain’s foreign ministry has demanded the immediate release of a Spanish national it said was being “held illegally” by Israel after the interception of a Gaza-bound flotilla, hours after an Israeli court moved to extend his detention by two days.Saif Abu Keshek, who lives in Barcelona, and Thiago Ávila, from Brazil, appeared in court in Ashkelon on Sunday, days after Israeli forces intercepted
Israeli court extends detention of two men who were among 175 people intercepted near Crete on Thursday
Spain’s foreign ministry has demanded the immediate release of a Spanish national it said was being “held illegally” by Israel after the interception of a Gaza-bound flotilla, hours after an Israeli court moved to extend his detention by two days.
Saif Abu Keshek, who lives in Barcelona, and Thiago Ávila, from Brazil, appeared in court in Ashkelon on Sunday, days after Israeli forces intercepted at least 22 boats from a flotilla that was attempting to break Israel’s maritime blockade of the devastated Palestinian territory to deliver aid.
WASHINGTON: A man stands atop the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge on Saturday to protest the US-Israeli war on Iran. Guido Reichstadter climbed the bridge in Washington on May Day, stayed there overnight, and posted a sunrise photo from one of the bridge’s arches while calling for an end to the war on Iran. Speaking to the media from atop the 51-metre structure, the 45-year-old father of two called for peaceful means to build pressure on the authorities to end what he descri
WASHINGTON: A man stands atop the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge on Saturday to protest the US-Israeli war on Iran. Guido Reichstadter climbed the bridge in Washington on May Day, stayed there overnight, and posted a sunrise photo from one of the bridge’s arches while calling for an end to the war on Iran. Speaking to the media from atop the 51-metre structure, the 45-year-old father of two called for peaceful means to build pressure on the authorities to end what he described as an ‘illegal war’.—Reuters
• Iranian military warns renewed hostilities with Washington ‘likely’ • Trump boasts of Hormuz blockade, says ‘we are like pirates’ • Tehran reaches out to Qatar, South Korea to discuss ongoing negotiations • Israeli strikes in Lebanon kill over 12 people, injure dozens; Lebanese army chief meets US general
TEHRAN/BEIRUT: Amid a surge in deadly strikes by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon and little headway in talks between the US and Iran, an Iranian military official warned against the ‘likely’ resumption of hostilities whereas diplomats in Tehran were told that the ball was in US court to pick fight or return to table after US President Donald Trump had rejected yet another Iranian proposal.
An Iranian proposal so far rejected by the Trump administration would open shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and end the US blockade of Iran while leaving talks on Iran’s nuclear programme for later, a senior Iranian official said.
A day earlier, the US rejected the fresh peace offer from Tehran, with President Donald Trump saying Iran had made “strides” in the latest proposal, but he was “still not satisfied”.
Iran on Saturday responded that it was up to the US if it wanted to pursue a negotiated settlement or return to war. “Now the ball is in the United States’ court to choose the path of diplomacy or the continuation of a confrontational approach,” Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi told diplomats in Tehran, according to state broadcaster IRIB. “Iran, with the aim of securing its national interests and security, is prepared for both paths,” he said.
The war, launched by the United States and Israel on Feb 28, has been on hold since April 8, with one round of peace talks having taken place in Pakistan since then.
Axios reported that US envoy Steve Witkoff had submitted amendments to a previous proposal, putting Tehran’s nuclear programme back on the negotiating table.
The changes reportedly included demands that Iran not move enriched uranium from bombed sites or resume activity there during talks.
Besides the nuclear programme, a major bone of contention between the two is the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.
Interestingly, Trump while addressing a rally in Florida compared the US action in the sea to that of pirates. “We’re like pirates” as he described an earlier helicopter raid on an oil tanker under the blockade.
“We… land on top of it and we took over the ship. We took over the cargo, took over the oil. It’s a very profitable business,” he remarked.
Iranian engagements with allies
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani discussed the ongoing negotiations between Tehran and the US in a telephone call, according to Doha’s foreign ministry.
The Qatari PM “affirmed the State of Qatar’s full support for mediation efforts aimed at resolving the crisis through peaceful means, emphasising the need for all parties to engage with these efforts in a way that contributes to creating the appropriate conditions for progress in the negotiations and limits the possibilities of renewed escalation”.
Mr Araghchi and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun also discussed bilateral relations, as well as the latest regional developments and initiatives related to diplomacy aimed at ending the US-Israeli war on Iran, Al Jazeera reported.
While the situation remains highly volatile with the fragile ceasefire in Iran war, the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and a surge in deadly attacks by Israel in southern Lebanon have created fear that the regional conflict could turn into a prolonged war.
13 killed in Lebanon
Despite the ceasefire in the Gulf, fighting continued in Lebanon, where Israel has carried out deadly strikes even though it signed a US-backed truce to end the Lebanon war. Lebanon’s health ministry said 13 people were killed in the latest strikes in the south, including in a town where Israel’s army had issued an evacuation order despite a ceasefire.
The strikes in Habboush killed eight people, including a child and two women, and wounded 21 others, the ministry said, raising an earlier toll. Other strikes in Zrariyeh killed four people, two of them women, and wounded four more, it said. The ministry also reported a strike in Ain Baal near the coastal city of Tyre killed one person and wounded seven others.
In Habboush, where the Israeli evacuation warning was issued, a photographer saw clouds of smoke rising after the raids. The state-run National News Agency reported that Israeli warplanes “launched a series of heavy strikes… less than an hour after” the warning. The NNA also reported Israeli strikes and artillery fire on other south Lebanon locations, including Tyre.
The NNA said Israeli troops carried out detonations in the southern town of Shamaa, and “demolished a monastery and a school” run by a religious order in the town of Yaroun.
Lebanon’s health ministry raised the toll from Israeli strikes since March 2 to 2,600 dead, including 103 emergency workers and paramedics.
Lebanese army chief meets US general
On Saturday, Lebanese armed forces commander General Rudolf Haykal and US General Joseph Clearfield met in Beirut to discuss the security situation in Lebanon and regional developments, the army said.
Clearfield heads a committee monitoring a US-backed ceasefire in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
Investigators find explosives in car, which crashed into Multnomah Athletic Club shortly before 3am SaturdayA person was found dead after a vehicle plowed into a health club in downtown Portland, Oregon, early Saturday morning, police said. Investigators later found explosives inside the car.Portland police and the Portland fire and rescue department responded to the Multnomah Athletic Club shortly before 3am after the vehicle crashed through the front entrance and caught fire. Once the blaze wa
Investigators find explosives in car, which crashed into Multnomah Athletic Club shortly before 3am Saturday
A person was found dead after a vehicle plowed into a health club in downtown Portland, Oregon, early Saturday morning, police said. Investigators later found explosives inside the car.
Portland police and the Portland fire and rescue department responded to the Multnomah Athletic Club shortly before 3am after the vehicle crashed through the front entrance and caught fire. Once the blaze was brought under control, a person was found dead inside the vehicle, police said in a statement.
Orange county resident Tommi Jo Mejer’s son was illegally riding e-motorcycle when he ran into 81-year-oldSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email A southern California woman is facing an additional charge of involuntary manslaughter after an 81-year-old man died from his injuries after being struck by the woman’s teen son while he was riding an e-motorcycle, prosecutors said on Friday.On 16 April, Tommi Jo Mejer’s 14-year-old son was riding a Surron e-motorcycle and doing wheelies when
A southern California woman is facing an additional charge of involuntary manslaughter after an 81-year-old man died from his injuries after being struck by the woman’s teen son while he was riding an e-motorcycle, prosecutors said on Friday.
On 16 April, Tommi Jo Mejer’s 14-year-old son was riding a Surron e-motorcycle and doing wheelies when he hit Ed Ashman, according to prosecutors. Ashman, a former captain in the US Marine Corps, was walking home from his job as a substitute teacher at a high school in Lake Forest.
PARIS: Journalism around the world is in dire straits, with Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) Press Freedom Index calling it the worst year since records began.
For the first time in its 25-year history, over half of the world’s countries now fall into the “difficult” or “very serious” categories for press freedom, the media watchdog noted.
“Since RSF began publishing the World Press Freedom Index 25 years ago, press freedom has been gradually deteriorating,” it noted in t
PARIS: Journalism around the world is in dire straits, with Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) Press Freedom Index calling it the worst year since records began.
For the first time in its 25-year history, over half of the world’s countries now fall into the “difficult” or “very serious” categories for press freedom, the media watchdog noted.
“Since RSF began publishing the World Press Freedom Index 25 years ago, press freedom has been gradually deteriorating,” it noted in the sobering report, released ahead of World Press Freedom day, which will be observed tomorrow (Sunday).
“Journalists are still being killed and imprisoned for their work, but the tactics undermining press freedom are evolving. Journalism is being asphyxiated by hostile political discourse towards reporters, weakened by a faltering media economy, and squeezed by laws being used as weapons against the press.”
RSF Press Freedom Index paints dismal picture; more than half of the world deemed ‘difficult’ for journalists or worse
According to RSF statistics since Jan 1, 2026, 13 journalists were killed around the world, while 471 are currently detained. In addition, at least 21 journalists are held hostage, while 135 remain missing in action.
The US, which had already fallen from a “fairly good” to a “problematic” situation in 2024, the year of Donald Trump’s re-election, has dropped a further seven places to 64, it said.
US President Donald Trump has turned his repeated attacks on the press and journalists into a systematic policy, pushing the US down to 64th place (-7).
The drastic cuts to the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) workforce had global repercussions, leading to the closure, suspension and downsizing of international broadcasters such as Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) in countries where they were some of the last reliable sources of information.
Among some of the most disturbing of RSF’s findings was that the criminalisation of journalism has reaches a peak.
The Index’s legal indicator has seen the most severe decline this year. This score deteriorated in more than 60pc of states — 110 out of 180 — between 2025 and 2026.
This is notably the case in India (157th), Egypt (169th), Israel (116th) and Georgia (135th). The criminalisation of journalism, which is rooted in circumventing press law and misusing emergency legislation and common law, is proving to be a global phenomenon.
In Pakistan (153rd), the press faces relentless waves of restrictions amid a fraught political climate in which authorities seek to control, and in some cases suppress, the dissemination of journalistic content, RSF said.
Among the countries closed off to the independent press, Vladimir Putin’s Russia (172nd) has become a specialist in using laws designed to combat terrorism, separatism and extremism to restrict press freedom.
Even in established democracies, legal provisions can undermine press freedom. In Japan (62nd), the state secrecy law continues to have a chilling effect on journalism as there are no adequate protections for source confidentiality to counterbalance it, which breeds self-censorship.
In South Korea (47th), government measures introduced to combat the spread of “false information” have drawn criticism from press freedom organisations, yet another example of the persistent tension between tackling disinformation and preserving the right to report.
The US sanctions target people operating in broad sections of Cuban economy, including energy, defence and miningCuba’s government has said new sanctions imposed on the island by Donald Trump amounted to “collective punishment”, as an enormous 1 May procession outside the American embassy in Havana vowed to “defend the homeland”.In an executive order on Friday, the US president said he would impose sanctions on people involved in broad sections of the Cuban economy, as he seeks to put more press
The US sanctions target people operating in broad sections of Cuban economy, including energy, defence and mining
Cuba’s government has said new sanctions imposed on the island by Donald Trump amounted to “collective punishment”, as an enormous 1 May procession outside the American embassy in Havana vowed to “defend the homeland”.
In an executive order on Friday, the US president said he would impose sanctions on people involved in broad sections of the Cuban economy, as he seeks to put more pressure on Havana after ousting Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, earlier this year.
Gaston Browne is on course to win 15 of the 17 seats in parliament after calling snap electionGaston Browne, the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, is set to win a fourth term in the country’s snap general election with preliminary results showing his party on course to win 15 of the 17 seats in parliament.Addressing supporters early on Friday morning, Browne said: “You have spoken, you have spoken clearly. You have indicated that the Antigua and Barbuda Labour party (ABLP) is the best insti
Gaston Browne is on course to win 15 of the 17 seats in parliament after calling snap election
Gaston Browne, the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, is set to win a fourth term in the country’s snap general election with preliminary results showing his party on course to win 15 of the 17 seats in parliament.
Addressing supporters early on Friday morning, Browne said: “You have spoken, you have spoken clearly. You have indicated that the Antigua and Barbuda Labour party (ABLP) is the best institution to run this country.”
US president says European countries are ‘absolutely horrible’ to refuse to support operations in strait of Hormuz• Why does the US have military bases in Germany?The US is withdrawing 5,000 troops from Germany, the Pentagon announced on Friday, as Donald Trump also threatened Italy and Spain for not helping to reopen the strait of Hormuz.The president’s move to reduce the number of personnel deployed in Germany came after the country’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said the US was being “humiliat
The US is withdrawing 5,000 troops from Germany, the Pentagon announced on Friday, as Donald Trump also threatened Italy and Spain for not helping to reopen the strait of Hormuz.
The president’s move to reduce the number of personnel deployed in Germany came after the country’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said the US was being “humiliated” by Iran.
UNITED NATIONS: The escalating crisis in the Strait of Hormuz could push tens of millions into poverty, trigger a surge in global hunger and even tip the world toward recession, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned on Thursday.
The closure of the vital waterway is “strangling the global economy,” the secretary general said in remarks to the press.
Guterres decried the restrictions on free passage through the strait, a crucial chokepoint, which he said is impeding the delivery
UNITED NATIONS: The escalating crisis in the Strait of Hormuz could push tens of millions into poverty, trigger a surge in global hunger and even tip the world toward recession, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned on Thursday.
The closure of the vital waterway is “strangling the global economy,” the secretary general said in remarks to the press.
Guterres decried the restrictions on free passage through the strait, a crucial chokepoint, which he said is impeding the delivery of oil, gas, fertiliser and other critical commodities.
Even if restrictions on shipping and trade were lifted immediately, “supply chains will take months to recover, prolonging lower economic output and higher prices,” he said.
Setting out three possible trajectories for a world still reeling from the shocks of a pandemic and the war in Ukraine, Guterres said the best-case scenario would see global growth fall from 3.4 per cent to 3.1pc, with inflation rising to 4.4pc and trade slowing sharply.
If disruptions arising from Iranian attacks and threats and the US blockade of Iranian ports continue through midyear, the consequences would deepen significantly, he added.
Under that scenario, 32 million people would be pushed into poverty, 45 million more would face extreme hunger as fertiliser runs low and crop yields fall, and “hard-won development gains” could be reversed overnight.
In a worst-case scenario, where severe disruptions persist through the end of the year, “we confront the spectre of a global recession with dramatic impacts on people, on the economy, and on political and social stability,” he warned.
“These consequences are not cumulative. They are exponential,” Guterres stressed, cautioning that the longer the vital artery is choked, the harder it will be to reverse the damage.
Guterres highlighted diplomatic efforts underway to break the deadlock in the US-Iran talks.
“My message to all parties is clear: Navigational rights and freedoms must be restored immediately,” Guterres said. “Open the Strait. Let all ships pass. Let the global economy breathe again.”
Workers wrote ‘Katrina declaration’, warning that funding cuts made US dangerously unprepared for natural disastersFourteen employees with the US Federal Emergency Management Agency returned to work this week, after spending eight months on administrative leave for signing a public letter criticising the Trump administration.The so-called “Katrina declaration”, sent last August to members of Congress and a federal council formed to help determine Fema’s future, was written as a rebuke from the w
Workers wrote ‘Katrina declaration’, warning that funding cuts made US dangerously unprepared for natural disasters
Fourteen employees with the US Federal Emergency Management Agency returned to work this week, after spending eight months on administrative leave for signing a public letter criticising the Trump administration.
The so-called “Katrina declaration”, sent last August to members of Congress and a federal council formed to help determine Fema’s future, was written as a rebuke from the workers about the dangerous erosion in US capacity to prepare for and respond to natural disasters.
US President Donald Trump and the head of the Secret Service said on Thursday the federal agent injured during the attack at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner had not been hit by friendly fire, as authorities released a video of the incident.
Jeanine Pirro, the US Attorney for the District of Columbia, posted the nearly six-minute video on social media amid lingering questions over whose bullet struck the officer.
Pirro noted that the security footage captured suspect Cole Tomas
US President Donald Trump and the head of the Secret Service said on Thursday the federal agent injured during the attack at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner had not been hit by friendly fire, as authorities released a video of the incident.
Jeanine Pirro, the US Attorney for the District of Columbia, posted the nearly six-minute video on social media amid lingering questions over whose bullet struck the officer.
Pirro noted that the security footage captured suspect Cole Tomas...
Login
